Tanzania

Iowa agribusiness investor Bruce Rastetter is leading a project to turn as much as 800,000 acres [324,000 hectares] of land in the east African country of Tanzania into a massive grain-and-livestock operation.

Nitol-Niloy Group and Bhati Bangla Agrotec of Bangladesh aim to invest an initial US$18 million to lease around 40,000 hectares of African land by the end of this year to grow foodstuff, most of which they will be obliged to sell in Bangladesh.

Hedge funds are behind "land grabs" in Africa to boost their profits in the food and biofuel sectors, a US think-tank says

Wealthy U.S. and European investors are accumulating large swaths of African agricultural lands in deals that have little accountability and give them greater control over food supply for the world's poor

If the early reports are anything to go by, the Bangladeshi deals already incorporate many elements that suggest they are being done in a way likely to engender fierce resentment and opposition in the African countries concerned.

Of the produce, 20 percent will go to the government of Uganda, and the remaining will be sent to Bangladesh with a profit of 10 percent plus production cost, says Nitol-Niloy Group

Bangladeshi companies say they have leased thousands of hectares of farmland in Africa as part of their efforts to avoid future food shortages.

Bangladesh has leased tens of thousands of hectares of farmland in Africa as part of a government drive to improve food security in the poverty-stricken South Asian nation, an official said on Tuesday

Das Dossier ist herausgegeben von "Brot für die Welt", dem evangelischen Entwicklungsdienst und dem Forschungs- und Dokumentationszentrum Chile-Lateinamerika in Zusammenarbeit mit der Redaktion Welt-Sichten.

Tanzania should seize the opportunity of rising food prices by investing in smallholder farmers and allow large scale foreign investors targeting exports, Agriculture Council of Tanzania (ACT) Chairman, Salum Shamte has said.

Nigeria's Heirs Holdings Ltd. completes investment in Mtanga Farms, a 2,200 ha farming operation at the heart of Tanzania's national initiative to combat food insecurity.

The move comes after two fact-finding missions led by the foreign secretary last year found farming in the so-called dark continent "exceedingly lucrative" for Bangladeshi investors.